Companion Plants for Orange Lilies

Growing Conditions

• Hybrid lilies survive winters in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 8, where minimum temperatures range between minus 40 and 20 F. They thrive in locations where their roots have shade and their stems, leaves and flowers receive full sun. Where natural shade for the roots doesn't exist, mulch will suffice. Lilies and their companion plants like well-drained, organically rich soils that remain consistently moist.

Cool-Colored Perennials

• Clumping, 3- to 4-foot Campanula latifolia, or great bellflower, and 4- to 6-foot Thalictrum rochebruneanum, or meadow rue, make cool-colored backdrops for smaller orange lilies. Great bellflower's early summer, 2 1/2-inch blue-purple flowers open and in small clusters atop stems of tapering, long stalked downy green leaves. Meadow rue, a Missouri Botanical Garden plant of merit, produces 2- to 3-foot clumps of airy, lobed bluish-green foliage. Clusters of small, five-petaled yellow-stamened flowers nod atop its tall, purple stems from midsummer until early fall. Mass either of these plants behind Lilium "Orange Pixie," a dwarf Asiatic lily growing just 10 to 14 inches high. Orange Pixie has golden-orange blooms with maroon-speckled throats.

Warm-Colored Perennials

• Orange lilies and other warm-colored plants are natural attention grabbers. They advance toward the viewer, making large garden spaces more intimate. Low, spreading companion plants cool the soil around the base of the lilies. Taller ones conceal yellowing foliage as it dies back after the lilies finish blooming. Hardy to U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone 3, Achillea "Terracotta" blooms through the summer with dense, 2- to 4-inch clusters of tiny florets atop 2 1/2- to 3-foot stems. The new, peach-colored flowers deepen to copper as they age. Several warm colors appear on the plants simultaneously. Terracotta's clumps of feathery, blue-green leaves display as well against orange lilies as they do against its own blooms.

Butterfly Bushes

• Buddleja x weyeriana "Sungold" butterfly bush pairs arching branches of glossy, dark green foliage with clusters of golden-yellow, summer-to-fall flowers. It grows 5 to 15 feet high and up to 15 feet wide. Buddleja davidii "Black Knight," a more compact 6 to 8 feet tall, has elongated spikes of deep purple flowers. Either of these zone 5-hardy, butterfly-attracting shrubs makes an eye-catching background planting for perennial border mixing orange lilies with other cool- and warm-hued flowers. Both fragrant shrubs require full sun and excellent drainage.